His family, whose name was Latinised to de Arcubus[3] ("from the arches"[4]) had been established in Buckinghamshire since at the latest 1309,[5] and held in that county the manors of Little Kimble, and in the parish of Waddesdon the estates of Eythrope[6] and Cranwell.
In July 1417 he embarked in King Henry V's army for the conquest of Normandy, serving in the retinue of Thomas Montagu, 4th Earl of Salisbury (1388–1428).
[1] He married twice: In Buckinghamshire:[17] Arches also inherited, or possibly purchased at reduced cost,[1] five Oxfordshire manors from his childless uncle Sir Richard II Adderbury (died 1416), of Donnington Castle, Berkshire, twice MP for Oxfordshire.
In addition, he acquired, via his first wife's inheritance, possession of the Oxfordshire manors of Horley, Ilbury and Wykeham.
[23] The arms of Arches were later quartered by Lord Dinham and later by his heirs the Bourchier family, Earls of Bath.